At ZigZak Computers we can offer remote support to both business and home customers. This can be provided at a lower rate than an on-site visit.

As an alternative to bringing in your computer or laptop to be repaired there are now many situations were “remote support” can be used instead. But do you know exactly what this means?

The essential elements of remote support involve allowing a technician to remotely view what’s happening on your screen and giving them the ability to move your mouse around. This allows the technician to work on your computer just as if they were sitting in front of it.

Enabling remote support involves being guided through visiting a website and downloading and installing the remote support app. For this reason it’s not suitable for problems where your device has lost internet access, won’t load, or is freezing/jamming and is more suited to problems installing/uninstalling apps, problems with configuration or program settings, etc.

“But I’ve heard that remote support is a scam?”Unfortunately there are businesses who will cold-call you claiming to be from Microsoft, of your internet provider, or even your bank. Part of this scam often involves convincing you to provide remote access to your computer. In these situations legitimate remote support tools are being used in a dishonest way. You should only allow someone you are positive is genuine to have such access – remember granting remote access gives the person at the other end access to your machine just as if they were sitting in front of it.

The steady flow of scam emails continues as normal today, I’m sure you get many along these lines too.I thought it was worth pointing out a couple of the more obvious problems with this email – it becomes easier to spot the fakes once you know what to look for.Clue #1: Have a look at the sender address. It says “Microsoft” right? No. Only the start of the address is shown but it begins “webmessage@messagingsolu”, which definitely isn’t a Microsoft address. So already we need to be doubting the authenticity of this email.Clue #2: As is often the case the language in the email just isn’t quite right. It doesn’t really make sense. “Due to high volume of inactive accounts, we’ll like to inform all our customers” – what??Clue #3: Biggest clue of all – if you hold your finger, or mouse pointer, over a link in an email the destination address will appear. If you look at what I’ve highlighted here the website address shows as “https://hurstwarne.top”. This is completely random and definitely not a Microsoft address! As always if you are unsure whether an email is genuine, or even if it looks genuine but seems unexpected, always just take a moment to consider it before clicking – if you click the link the chances are you’ll end up at an authentic looking website asking for your login credentials – which you’ll be handing straight to the crooks!